Jeff Hanisch/US PresswireA late-game interception by Chicago's Jay Cutler meant the Giants would be spectators for this season's playoffs.

It looked so promising, didn’t it? The Giants were rolling along like the class of the NFC. The Jets were chitchatting their way to a showdown with the Patriots for AFC superiority.

This is the question the staff at the Supe-O-Meter was left to ponder Sunday: How could the hopes and dreams of our moment of shared football glory come down to Jay $!@#*% Cutler overthrowing his receiver by, what, 20 yards on the final desperate drive in Green Bay?

Alas, this is what happens when you leave your playoff fate in the hands of somebody else, as the Giants did, and especially what happens when that somebody else is Jay $!@#*% Cutler. The Bears made a game of it against the Packers, but Green Bay eliminated the Giants with a victory.

The Supe-O-Meter is dead.

Long live the Supe-O-Meter!

The lesson here is really just a reminder of how hard it is for one team to reach the big game, much less two teams from the same market. Perhaps, in hindsight, we should haven’t started our reckless hyping so early, but how could something so wrong feel so right?

The Jets will go on without us as the sixth seed in a loaded AFC. They will have to beat Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger to reach the big game, so no matter how much their head coach insists they’re the favorites, they are massive underdogs.

The Giants were undone by that collapse against the Eagles and the no-show in Green Bay, five poor quarters. They’ll regret that stretch of football the entire offseason — that, and the home loss to the reeling Cowboys the night the lights went out at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

The lights have now gone out for us, too. Jay $!@#*% Cutler heaved that overthrown pass directly into the heart of the Supe-O-Meter. The official final reading: Flat-lined.